Feature request: more control over project embeds
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Right now, I have my project YOUniverse3D embedded as an iFrame over at my site (YN3D), but I realize there is a confusing user experience for some of my users because
- some of them have never used Scratch before, so seeing the toolbar (
) confuses them or they don’t know what to do with it so they give up - There is a bug with projects where they don’t run the first time, and my buttons which are widgets don’t show, so you have to press the green flag for it to work and the widget buttons to show.
- To add on to 2, because of them not knowing about Scratch, they don’t know that they have to press the green flag. To some it might seem like common sense to hit the green flag, but it might be confusing to others.
This is what I’ve observed from watching people test my website/game and helping them to accomplish what they want to do, but if I wasn’t there, they probably would not know what to do and might just leave my site because they don’t know what to do with it. I’m using these observations to improve my site, and I’ve cleared out nearly everything in my control, but what’s left is I just need a bit more control over embeds.
What I want added is options for controlling the embedded experience, such as hiding/only showing some of the toolbar buttons (especially because I don’t want my users/players to hit “Stop” or “Debug” as those will probably mess up the game), autorunning the project, etc. And that would be implemented using URL parameters since that’s an easier solution rather than storing project option preferences. For example,
play.creaticode.com/projects/ {example project} /embed?version=1 , and then add &btnOptions=none&autoPlay=true to the end of it.
That would run the embedded project automatically and remove all the buttons on top. Alongside btnOptions, there maybe could be other options to not show specific buttons like the pause button, which could mess up a multiplayer game. I think it could be done with other parameters for those buttons, like pause=no or something.
To better illustrate my idea, if this was a feature, then having those URL parameters could make embeds a lot better, going from
to
These options are just for project embeds though, since I just want to control how I display the game for a better user experience, accessibility, and consistency with my site’s theme. This shouldn’t apply to embeds on the forums though because of autoPlay which could be possibly annoying and do something like play music, or otherwise do something disruptive. You might ask, can’t this also be done with embedding outside of the forums? It is, but that’s not bad because it would usually be intended by the site’s author.
In this case, I intend to have my game auto play because there’s a button on my site saying “play the game” so user interaction was needed to get there, so it wouldn’t be an inconvenience since the user wants to play the game.
#LLJW
<span style="color:white;background-image:linear-gradient(to right, lightblue, navy)">My name is Jeff</span> - some of them have never used Scratch before, so seeing the toolbar (
-
Right now, I have my project YOUniverse3D embedded as an iFrame over at my site (YN3D), but I realize there is a confusing user experience for some of my users because
- some of them have never used Scratch before, so seeing the toolbar () confuses them or they don’t know what to do with it so they give up
- There is a bug with projects where they don’t run the first time, and my buttons which are widgets don’t show, so you have to press the green flag for it to work and the widget buttons to show.
- To add on to 2, because of them not knowing about Scratch, they don’t know that they have to press the green flag. To some it might seem like common sense to hit the green flag, but it might be confusing to others.
This is what I’ve observed from watching people test my website/game and helping them to accomplish what they want to do, but if I wasn’t there, they probably would not know what to do and might just leave my site because they don’t know what to do with it. I’m using these observations to improve my site, and I’ve cleared out nearly everything in my control, but what’s left is I just need a bit more control over embeds.
What I want added is options for controlling the embedded experience, such as hiding/only showing some of the toolbar buttons (especially because I don’t want my users/players to hit “Stop” or “Debug” as those will probably mess up the game), autorunning the project, etc. And that would be implemented using URL parameters since that’s an easier solution rather than storing project option preferences. For example,
play.creaticode.com/projects/ {example project} /embed?version=1 , and then add &btnOptions=none&autoPlay=true to the end of it.
That would run the embedded project automatically and remove all the buttons on top. Alongside btnOptions, there maybe could be other options to not show specific buttons like the pause button, which could mess up a multiplayer game. I think it could be done with other parameters for those buttons, like pause=no or something.
To better illustrate my idea, if this was a feature, then having those URL parameters could make embeds a lot better, going from
to
These options are just for project embeds though, since I just want to control how I display the game for a better user experience, accessibility, and consistency with my site’s theme. This shouldn’t apply to embeds on the forums though because of autoPlay which could be possibly annoying and do something like play music, or otherwise do something disruptive. You might ask, can’t this also be done with embedding outside of the forums? It is, but that’s not bad because it would usually be intended by the site’s author.
In this case, I intend to have my game auto play because there’s a button on my site saying “play the game” so user interaction was needed to get there, so it wouldn’t be an inconvenience since the user wants to play the game.
These are great ideas. We will work on them. Thank you.
- some of them have never used Scratch before, so seeing the toolbar (
-
These are great ideas. We will work on them. Thank you.
@info-creaticode Thank you. It would help a ton for these to be added, and my next step to accessibility would be utilizing joysticks for mobile support in my game. In the meantime I’ll use these parameters in the iFrame, since they wont do anything now, but they will when support is added for customizing which buttons show/ are hidden and auto playing the project.
#LLJW
<span style="color:white;background-image:linear-gradient(to right, lightblue, navy)">My name is Jeff</span> -
@info-creaticode Thank you. It would help a ton for these to be added, and my next step to accessibility would be utilizing joysticks for mobile support in my game. In the meantime I’ll use these parameters in the iFrame, since they wont do anything now, but they will when support is added for customizing which buttons show/ are hidden and auto playing the project.
@jeffreyrb03-gmail My iframe embed over at my site now has “&autoPlay=true&btnOptions=none” at the end of it
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